PADI womens diving day 2016 - where is my future?

Last year to celebrate the first PADI Womens Diving Day, all the girls from Dive Central Gili wrote a short story about how they got in to diving and how they feel that the industry has changed since. To honor all the girls of DCG (and of course all ladies taking the plunge), this year we thought we would look in to the future and ask us girls: Where do you see yourself as a diver in the future?

Laura, Instructor from EnglandI have been a diver since 2010 and have been a diver instructor for around 2 and a half years here on Gili Trawangan. I love my life as dive instructor and thoroughly enjoy seeing people faces when they take their first breaths underwater followed with the common statement “I cant believe that you do this for a living, you have the best job in the world”, which I totally agree with. It's great to see how many women are dive instructors too, something that hasn't always been the case. In Dive Central Gili we are actually more women than men! The plan I have for the near future is to continue traveling and teaching as I go. I don’t believe I will be a dive instructor forever, however diving will always be a passion and something that will always be a part of my life.

Fanny, Instructor from SwedenFor me the future is such a undefinable term, depending on how far in the future I'm looking - the goals regarding me and diving varies. But if I look towards the next five years, I'm either still teaching abroad or at home, probably only part time though since my long term goal is to mainly work with underwater sustainability and marine life protection. And to do that I have to go to school. My passion for environment protection has always been strong, but after living in Indonesia for almost 2 years the interest to make a change has grown massively. Even though Indonesia has more diversity in Flora and Fauna than most countries on earth, I see it slowly getting destroyed by poverty, peoples need for food, plastic and lack of education. I believe that a change is possible, but it needs to happen soon and it has to happen globally. I also believe that education is the key, and giving men another option to earn money than fishing up mantas and shark. I believe the future to a healthy ocean is spelled ECO - tourism, and I would love to be a part of that change. But for now teaching new and old divers is enough - I mean, there is no better way to change peoples perception about our ocean and it's inhabitants than to actually show them how beautiful it is and that the animals are so much more worth alive.

Emily, Office manager from The NetherlandsOnly 10 months ago, I started diving and did an introduction dive with Dive Central Gili. This was the first time I ever tried diving and it was awesome! A new world that I wanted to discover. I decided to continue and do my PADI Open Water course. I loved it so much, I never left the island. Now, I am an Advanced Open Water Diver and will start the Rescue course soon. My goal for the future: becoming a Dive Master!

Sumeena, owner of Dive Central from EnglandAs a diver and now owner of a dive shop, I do believe that the future of diving is to teach the next generation how to respect the under water world. I will make sure my children, the oldest of who is already a Bubble Maker, learn to appreciate the beauty of the sea but also the importance of our part in keeping it alive. Educating them on how important our life style and choices regarding the environment has a direct impact on marine life and coral is the most important step in becoming a good future diver. All 3 of my children will learn to dive, we live on an island after all! But they will also learn what the sea really is and how we make sure it's still amazing so their children can also enjoy it the way we do now.

Fredrika, Instructor from SwitzerlandI fell in love with scuba diving two years ago, in Thailand. Two months ago I fulfilled the promise I made to myself during that very first dive, I became a PADI scuba diving instructor! I want to share my passion now and in the future with other people and spread my word about diving so more people can see this beautiful part of our planet. Right now I work as a dive instructor on Gili Trawangan and I hope I can teach many people over the next few months. After the high season I am planning to do a dive trip to Komodo, maybe even with the hopes of getting a job there. I saw pictures and movies showing the marine diversity in Komodo. I think every diver has to go there one time in their life to experience this mind blowing diving.

No matter where the future might take us, it is safe to say that for us at Dive Central, diving will always be a passion, regardless if it will remain as an occupation, a hobby or something to pass on to the future generations. We wish all female divers a very happy Womens Dive day, and we hope to see more girl getting involved now and in the future.